Somewhere in the Middle
Book Cover Design, Illustration
2019
Somewhere in the Middle: A journey to the Philippines in search of roots, belonging, and identity is the debut memoir of author Deborah Francisco Douglas. Half-Filipino but raised in an American household, the book tells the story of the time she spent in the Philippines as a Peace Corps Volunteer (2011-2014), and how this experience connected her to a culture she had long desired to understand.
When she returned to the United States, Deborah created the blog Halo-Halo, Mix-Mix – Discovering the Filipino-American Identity, as a way to share her love of Filipino culture.
The book design we created features distinctly Filipino imagery rendered in a playfully maximalist, colourful, and organic style to reflect the vibrancy of life in the Philippines.
One of the first studies I had presented — a more maximalist take on the concept, to visually depict that overwhelming feeling of finding your identity in the middle of two cultures. In the end, we went with the cleaner / simpler option, which is what you see in the final cover below.
The final cover design
Some of the illustrations I created for the cover
Photo c/o the author
Kindle version — Photo c/o Amazon user Alix Maza
